Leo Valdez and the Outsiders
by teamleoforlife
Summary: Basically the title, Leo saves Calypso from Ogygia, but goes back in time on a quest to repay the gods for bringing her back. He meets the Greasers and has to save Johnny and Dally from the fire, without revealing his identity. Can he do it? Read to find out!
1. Percy

**_Percy_**

"LEO VALDEZ" the voice boomed.

Leo stepped confidently out from the crowd of demigods in orange CHB and purple CJ shirts, waiting to be recognized by their godly parents. Leo still had his goofy smile on, but his face and arms were still marred by scars from the recent Giant War, I guess the rest of us didn't look much better. His curly brown hair was as messy as always; some things never get old. He wore his Camp Half – Blood shirt and jeans that had oil and grease stains on them.

"Father," Leo knelt in front of his misshapen dad.

"Rise, my son." Leo rose, "For your bravery in the past war, I would like to award you the gift of immortality. I am not sure you will accept it, since your friends decided not to…" he rolled his eyes and glanced towards Annabeth and me.

"Hmmm…. No thanks, but I do have a request." Leo replied almost immediately.

Hephaestus sighed, "Go on".

"Release Calypso from Ogygia and bring her here now. Please. I want to make sure you don't forget… Again." At this he looked towards me, and I felt a pang of guilt. I had wanted to make sure the gods followed up on that request, but things got so busy.

"Very well, boy, but you will have to complete a quest."

"Fine, anything." Leo huffed.

Hephaestus got over his initial shock at being told what to do by his son, and he looked towards Zeus before waving his hand. A brilliant light filled the huge throne room, accompanied by some screams, before settling down and revealing a pillar of smoke in the center of the room. I held on to Annabeth tightly.

"Calypso?" Leo called into the smoke.

"Leo? Is that you? Where am I? What happened?" Came the reply. I shook at the thought of seeing her again. It would not only be awkward because she thought I left her there, but because she had cursed me afterwards. The smoke settled down, revealing a girl our age, 17, she had long dirty blonde hair, that swished down her back in a mesmerizing way. I stared at it, before Annabeth flicked my arm, reminding me that she was Leo's and Annabeth was mine.

"Calypso!" Leo exclaimed, running towards her.

"Leo!"

She ran towards him and jumped into his arms. I loved how happy Leo looked; like his normal self again. So this was what he was missing. After being alone so long, he totally deserved it.


	2. Jason

**_Jason_**

It's nice to finally see Leo happy again. After he got thrown from the Argo II, he had seemed kind of depressed. I guess this was the answer. As they hugged, I glanced at Piper next to me. She was so beautiful, still is really. My thoughts were interrupted by a cry of pain from the center of the room. Leo was on the ground clutching his head; Calypso crouched next to him with worry etched into her face. I grabbed Piper's hand, and we ran to the front of the room with the rest of the Seven.

"Leo? What's wrong can you talk? Leo!" Calypso shouted, shaking Leo by the shoulders. I knelt next to him, where he was curled in a ball on the shiny marble floor.

"Apollo! Do something!" shouted Percy, who was clutching Annabeth's hand tightly.

"NO! Stand back! He is being transported back in time; he agreed to the quest." boomed Hephaestus, getting off his throne. Zeus, Poseidon, Athena, Ares and Aphrodite stood up as well, converting to their human sized forms, to pull us off of him. We yelled, terrified for Leo, and angry at the gods. Calypso was screaming at Aphrodite to let her go, tears falling freely off her face. I turned to my father.

"You didn't even tell him what he has to do!" I yelled.

"He will know when he gets there." Zeus replied calmly. Leo writhed on the ground before he let loose a blood-chilling scream, and disappeared altogether. The gods and goddesses let go of us, and we all ran to the place Leo had been just a moment ago. Calypso screamed in rage.

"What did you DO?!" she shrieked.

"He agreed to the quest to save you." Aphrodite responded sadly. Calypso collapsed her whole body shaking. Percy approached her (alone) cautiously. He knelt next to her, speaking softly.

"Hey, it'll be okay. Leo is very capable of protecting himself. You know that." She threw her arms around him, probably just looking for some comfort. Percy glanced towards Annabeth before hugging her back.

"That will be it for the ceremony. I hope you are all not too traumatized." Zeus said. We stared at him.

"Well," he clapped his hands, as the demigods scowled at him and started to leave. Percy helped Calypso up and joined Annabeth as he walked out. I glared at my father, while gripping Piper's hand.

"That was wrong, Dad. You should have given them some time." I said. My father sighed.

"And if I did that, they would get too attached; she would never let him out of her sight."

I turned away from him and joined the end of frightened half-bloods filing through the door. As soon as the throne doors closed, Piper started crying.

"P-Poor Leo!" she cried, through her sobs. I started to tear up too, but no. I had to be strong for her.

"Hey, it'll be okay," I soothed, "Leo is fine. I know he is. If you don't believe me, we can go ask Nico."

"No I b-believe you." She said, still stuttering, "it's j-just that I-I'm so worried a-about him."

"I know so am I. But, this is like any other quest. He'll be fine." We had finally reached the elevator to the Empire State Building, and we piled in with the rest of the line. The black doors shut, and the worst music you'll ever hear started to play. I gave a nervous laugh.

"That was interesting."

"Yeah, you never know with those gods." Somebody from Camp Half-Blood replied dryly. He had dark brown hair that stuck out in places and brown eyes. Like the rest of us, he had his respective Camp's t-shirt on, and a pair of dirt-stained jeans. He stuck out his hand. I shook it. After my little time in Camp Half-Blood, I didn't really know, or remember anybody.

"My name's Connor, and my brother here," he said giving a lop-sided smile and pointing to another kid behind him, "is Travis."

"Cool, my name is Jason. And this is Piper." I said to him, trying without success to forget about what just happened.

"Nice." The elevator dinged, signaling the end of our descent to the ground. We stepped out, and headed towards the front doors of the building, wondering what would happen once we got to Camp.


	3. Leo

**Hi guys, I am going to post a new chapter every day, from someone else's POV. Next will be Ponyboy's! I am so excited to write this, I hope you like it!**

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**_Leo_**

My day was going great until the pain hit. Oh yeah, got the love of my life back, punched some earth goddess in the face, you know, normal Leo stuff. It was great. Everyone was in the gods' throne room, which, by the way, is ginormous. I was trying to figure out how to build a Gaea figurine with the metal scraps from my ever-present tool belt, when my name was called.

"LEO VALDEZ" said a voice. My dad, I was guessing. I stepped out of the crowd of demigods decked out in purple and orange tees.

"Father," I knelt in front of Hephaestus's mechanical throne.

"Rise, my son," he said. I stood up, and gave the gods a goofy grin.

"For your bravery in the past war, I would like to award you the gift of immortality. I am not sure you will accept it, since your friends decided not to…" he rolled his misshapen eyes and looked towards Percy and Annabeth.

"Hmm… no thanks, but I have a request."

"Go on" my dad sighed.

"Release Calypso from Ogygia and bring her here now. Please. I want to make sure you don't forget… again." I looked in the direction of Percy, not wanting to make him feel bad, but I guess my awful ADHD didn't care about that.

"Very well, boy, but you will have to complete a quest."

"Fine, anything." I didn't care at the moment. Also I didn't think I'd be going alone back in time. My father looked slightly annoyed at this response, but he waved his hand and a blinding light filled the room. When it died down, a pillar of smoke occupied the middle of the throne room. I called into it uncertainly,

"Calypso?"

A voice that I had been dying to hear for weeks, called back,

"Leo? Is that you? Where am I? What happened?" The smoke died down and I saw her. She was so beautiful, and she looked like she had been working in her garden; flecks of dirt covered her arms and white dress. Her hair was braided, and it swished down her back in a mesmerizing way. I was so happy to see her.

"Calypso!" I exclaimed, running towards her, not caring who saw.

"Leo!" she yelled, running into my arms. Words could not describe how happy I was at that moment.

"I knew you would save me." She whispered into my ear. I heard a couple of 'awwws' from the crowd, probably coming from the Aphrodite kids. I kissed her forehead, loving how good she smelled, like cinnamon. Then the pain started. It progressed from a minor headache, to a migraine, and then to a pain that felt like someone was trying to saw through my head with a sword. I cried out, and without meaning to, fell to the ground. The edges of my vision tinged black, and things were swinging in and out of focus. I saw Calypso crouching over me with the seven, but I couldn't hear them, couldn't respond. Then, they were being pulled away from me, the girls crying. I couldn't take it anymore; the agony. I let loose a horrific scream and blacked out.


	4. Ponyboy

**_Ponyboy_**

As we ran away from the scene of the crime, I shivered uncontrollably and Johnny was giving the occasional whimper, as if remembering the whole night unfold over and over again. I ran with my head down, watching my feet. It was a dumb thing to do, so, naturally I crashed into someone. Only, it wasn't Johnny. As we tumbled to the ground, I heard Johnny yell, and the kid grunt as he hit the ground. I sat up, brushing myself off, and checking for any immediate injuries.

"Whoa! Are you guys okay?" Johnny asked.

"I think so," I said. The other boy popped to his feet. He looked about 16 or 17 years old with long(ish) curly brown hair, and a goofy smile plastered on his face. He wore an orange t-shirt, which said Camp something-or-other on it, and grime stained blue jeans.

"Hi, my name is Leo. But you can call me Supreme Commander of the Argo II or something of the sort." He explained sticking out a hand and helping me to my feet.

"Thanks. My name is Ponyboy, and this is Johnny." I said, pointing first at myself, and then towards Johnny Cake. The kid, Leo, showed no reaction whatsoever at my, hmmm, unusual name. We started running again, trying to get to Dally as quickly as possible. He followed us.

"So where you heading?" he asked.

"Friend's house." Johnny replied understatedly.

"We are running from the fuzz." I said at the same time. Johnny glared at me, and I gave him a 'sorry' look.

"What's the fuzz?" Leo questioned.

"Ummm….the police." I stated uncertainly. He snorted, not even fazed by all the running. We slowed down to a fast walk.

"Me too."

"What did _you_ do?" Johnny asked, suddenly interested in our conversation.

"Err… that's not important." He said awkwardly.

"Yes it is. C'mon, we'll tell you if you tell us." I said.

"Fine, but you go first."

"Hmmm. There's really no good way to put this. Johnny here killed a Soc." He nodded like he'd already known.

"Okie doke, well here's the thing. I didn't do it on purpose, okay?" he took a deep breath, "I kinda set somebody's house on fire."

"How do you do that accidently!?" Johnny yelled. Leo flinched.

"Ummm, I'll tell you later." He said as we reached to building Dally was in. I could hear loud music inside, and as we reached the doorstep, I could see tons of people with flashing green lights inside. I banged on the door. Some guy opened it.

"WE NEED TO SEE DALLAS!" I screamed over the music. The guy stared at us, as if comprehending what we had said.

"FINE, I'LL GET HIM." The guy yelled back, and then proceeded to slam the door in our faces. Leo flinched again.

"That's like the sixth time that's happened tonight." He wailed. We hurried over to the window in time to see the guy that had answered the door disappear into the back room.

"Do you think he is gonna come back out?" Johnny asked, neither of us responding to Leo's comment.

"Probably." I answered.

"There he is, I see him." Leo said, pointing to the man, who was leading a shirtless Dally to the front door. We ran back to the doorstep just as the door flew open.

"Hello?" Dally asked bored, before noticing us.

"Umm... Dally?" I asked uncertainly. He looked down.

"Oh. Pony, Johnny, hey. Who's the kid?"

"That's Leo, listen Dal, I just killed a Soc, we gotta get outta here, you feel me?" Johnny rushed.

"Yeah, I'll get you all set up," he said, ushering us into the noisy room, "Ponyboy are you wet?"

He herded us into the bedroom, where I got to change into a clean shirt, that was much too big for me, but at least it was dry. When I got back, Dally was explaining the escape plan to Johnny, who had a gun in his hand. Leo was sitting on a nearby chair, his leg bouncing up and down, looking completely zoned out.

"Alright Ponyboy, I told Johnny and Leo, that you gotta sneak down to the tracks and get on a car. Don't let _anyone _see you. Use the gun if needed. Go to the church in Windrixville, on top of Jay Mountain. You got it?" Dally explained.

"Yes, sir." I said, with a bit of sarcasm, even though I knew the situation was serious. I turned to Leo.

"You're comin' with us?"

"Positive." he retorted confidently.


	5. Leo POV

**Hi guys! Thanks for reading, if you like it please tell me in reviews! Here's Leo's view! It's kind of a repeat but I had to put the beginning in... :)**

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**_Leo_**

As soon as I woke up, I knew something was on fire. I felt the heat on my body, and smelled the smoke. When I finally opened my eyes, a voice in my head spoke.

"_Run_," it said. "_The police are coming_."

"Dad?" I rasped out loud. The voice in my head sounded like my father's but I decided not to question it anymore seeing as how bad my throat hurt, and my head was pounding. Sitting up, I took a bag of ambrosia out of my pocket and popped a square into my mouth, before standing up and running. I didn't want to stay, and I had a feeling the voice would explain everything if I got wherever it was I needed to go. I heard a few screams behind me, and looked back. That was a mistake. Somebody's house was on fire. I guess this was where I had landed after my blackout. I flinched and stopped in my tracks. I started to turn around to help, but my father's voice yelled,

"_Keep going! You are getting nowhere_." I choked on a sob and fled the area, making sure to knock on a few people's doors so they could help the family with the burning house. Apparently they didn't like that, so, I got a few doors slammed in my face. As I ran my father explained the situation inside my head.

"_You are in 1966 Tulsa, Oklahoma. You will have completed the quest, and brought back home, when you save two boys from a fire. These boys call themselves the Greasers. They are against a group called the Socials, or Socs for short. Follow these boys, named Ponyboy and Johnny, and save Johnny from the fire. In turn, you will keep a young man, Dallas, or Dally, from committing suicide. These are the two lives you have to save. In a few minutes you will run into Ponyboy and Johnny, just continue along this road. Johnny has killed a Soc out of self-defense, and they are going to Dallas for help. Follow them, and you will complete the quest. Remember Leo, DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, GIVE AWAY YOUR IDENTITY." _He yelled the last part, and I tried to cover my ears. Which didn't work because his voice was inside my head.

"Ok, ok, geez," I muttered, "Calm down." Just as I said this, I crashed into someone.

"_This is them." _Said my Dad.

"Whoa! Are you guys okay?" asked the kid I hadn't knocked over. The boy on the ground was brushing himself off, and checking for injuries.

"I think so." He said. I felt a little bad for him because he was soaked, and they both had black-and –blues and scrapes all over. Deciding not to ask them about it, I jumped to my feet, determined to make friends with them.

"Hi, my name is Leo. But you can call me Supreme Commander of the Argo II or something of the sort." I said, almost slapping myself in the face, but instead I helped the boy on the ground to his feet.

"Thanks. My name is Ponyboy, and this is Johnny." The boy I helped up explained, pointing first to himself, then to the other boy there. They started running again which I found strange, but I followed anyways.

"So where you heading?" I asked them. They answered at the same time.

"Friend's house," said Johnny.

"We are running from the fuzz." Explained Ponyboy, earning an exasperated look from Johnny.

"What's the fuzz?" I asked. These people sure did have some weird names.

"Ummm… the police." Ponyboy explained shyly. We slowed to a fast walk, but I wasn't even tired. I snorted.

"Me too,"

"What did _you_ do?" Johnny asked, suddenly attentive to our conversation.

"Err, that's not important." I said, embarrassed.

"Yes it is. C'mon, we'll tell you if you tell us." Ponyboy pleaded. I couldn't understand why they wanted to know so badly.

"Fine, but you go first." I retorted.

"Hmmm. There's really no good way to put this. Johnny here killed a Soc." I nodded, Hephaestus had already told me.

"Okie doke, well here's the thing. I didn't do it on purpose, okay?" I took a deep breath, "I kinda set somebody's house on fire."

"How do you do that accidently!?" Johnny yelled. I cringed at his loud voice.

"Ummm, I'll tell you later." I said, not planning to tell them at all. We reached to building Dally was in, and Ponyboy banged on the door. Some guy opened it.

"WE NEED TO SEE DALLAS!" Pony screamed over the music. The guy stared at us, as if comprehending what he had said.

"FINE, I'LL GET HIM." The guy yelled back, and then proceeded to slam the door in our faces. I flinched again.

"That's like the sixth time that's happened tonight." I cried. They ignored what I had said, and ran to look inside a nearby window, just in time to see the guy disappear into a back room.

"Do you think he is gonna come back out?" Johnny asked.

"Probably." Pony answered.

"There he is; I see him." I said, pointing to the man, who was leading a shirtless man that I guessed was Dally to the front door. We ran back to the doorstep just as the door flew open.

"Hello?" Dally asked bored, before noticing us.

"Umm... Dally?" Pony asked uncertainly. He looked down.

"Oh. Pony, Johnny, hey. Who's the kid?" I started to answer but Johnny cut me off.

"That's Leo, listen Dal, I just killed a Soc, we gotta get outta here, you feel me?" Johnny rushed.

"Yeah, I'll get you all set up," he said, ushering us into the noisy room, "Ponyboy are you wet?"

He herded us into the bedroom, where I got comfortable in a hard, wooden chair. I thought about home as Dallas gave Pony a shirt and told him to go change. I thought about Calypso, and why the gods couldn't have just let us be together. I thought about my friends, even Nico. I was wondering how I was going to get home, when Pony asked me a question. Since I hadn't listened to the plan, I had no idea what I was getting myself into.

"You're comin' with us?" Pony asked.

"Positive." I answered.

"Great," said Dally, "Now get outta my sight, you're gonna miss your train." We ran through the building, and burst out the front door, into the dark night.

We ran, with Johnny leading the way. I still had no idea what was going on, but I wanted to seem like I had listened, so I didn't ask. We stopped in a line of tall oak and pine trees facing train tracks.

_"Okay,"_ I thought, "_I am taking a train to an unknown destination, with two strangers I barely know. Not to mention we are running from the cops, so if we get caught we are all screwed and I'll never get back to 2014. Nice Leo." _ We sprinted across the tracks when no one was looking, and dove into an empty car. Once inside safely, I fell asleep on the cold metal floor.


	6. Johnny

**Hi guys, I am so sorry for not posting a chapter yesterday, I didn't have time. But I am going to post two today to make up for it! Here's the first one...Enjoy! :)**

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**_Johnny_**

I fingered the gun Dally had given me as the three of us waited to get off the train. Well, I was doing all the waiting, Leo and Pony had fallen asleep hours ago. When the first hint of morning finally came, I was dozing off, still unsettled about the night before. I woke to screaming. Pony and I jumped awake, and we looked at each other, startled. We ran over to Leo who was yelling in his sleep. Pony shook him.

"Leo!" I yelled. His eyes flew open and his arm shot up at the same time, hitting Pony square in the face. Ponyboy cried out, and fell backwards holding his bleeding nose. Leo yelped and scrambled over to him.

"Dude I am soooo sorry, I didn't know it was you!" he yelled. I ran over to them.

"Pony, you okay?" I asked softly.

"Yeah, I-I'm fine. Geez Leo, you've got one heck of a punch. You could beat all the Socs combined!" He supposed, with a muffled voice. I looked out the train door; the sun was up, revealing an old church on a hilltop.

"Guys, we need to jump, the church is right there." I explained worriedly. Leo helped Pony to his feet, and we ran to the door.

"Alright one, two, three!" I counted and we jumped, landing on the hard rocky ground. I bent my knees when I landed, but stumbled a few feet away. I saw Pony do the same thing, but when Leo hit the ground, I saw him bend his knees, but then he put his momentum into an expert roll across the gravel.

"Where did you learn to do that?!" I asked.

"Hmmm, I guess you could call it training," He then flinched and said, "We should get going." Pony and I looked at each other and shrugged. We inched through the brush towards the dilapidated church, getting numerous scrapes from the devious 'picker bushes'. I thought about my mom and dad. They wouldn't be missing me, would they? Leo's abrupt stop jarred me out of my thoughts.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"Shhhhhh," He hissed back at me. His hand inched towards his leather belt; like it was something else almost. The belt suddenly flicked from a regular hold-up-your-pants belt, to a tool belt, and back again.

"Did you see that?" Pony whispered to me. The bleeding from his nose had stopped.

"Yeah, we'll talk about it later." I whispered back. A tremendous roar shook the trees around us. Leo cursed in a strange language. At least, I think it was a curse, because of his tone. He spun around towards Pony and I and said one word,

"Run." And did we run. We ran for the church as fast as our legs would carry us. It was only when I got there that I realized, Leo wasn't behind us.

"_Uh oh" _I thought.

"What the hell just happened!?" Pony shouted, "We need to go back for him!" Just then, the strangest thing yet happened, a voice spoke in my head.

"_No, you must not go back for him. Leo is fine, and perfectly capable of defeating it. Do not ask him what it is; he will explain later. If you ask him, you will put all of your lives in danger, especially yours Johnny. He comes Leo now."_

I looked at Pony, who had gone pale.

"Did you hear that?" I asked. He nodded with wide eyes. I looked towards the far line of trees that we had sprinted from. There was a figure coming our way.

"I guess we shouldn't say anything about it." Pony supposed. I shook my head, not wanting to endanger anyone's life. What was going on?

Leo reached us, looking like he had run a marathon. His breath was coming in short gasps, and his usually curly hair was matted down with sweat. He was covered in a yellow dust, and his clothes were smoking. I guess that doesn't describe a lot of marathon runner's but you know what I mean. Leo collapsed on the porch of the church, and pulled a cobweb off his singed shirt.

"Piece of cake." He said, and then promptly passed out, slumping forward off the step and hitting his head on the ground.


	7. Ponyboy POV

**Hey peeps, here's your second chapter for today! Hope you like it... I enjoy constructive criticism, so please tell me what you think!**

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**_Ponyboy_**

I was furious. The Soc's killing made me mad. The voice in my head made me irate. But this, Leo's condition, sent me over the top.

"Help me get him inside." Johnny said, sighing.

"Arghh, this kid, what the heck is going on!" I couldn't even form complete sentences as we each lifted one of Leo's arms and dragged him up the steps into the church. We set Leo on one of the many wooden benches that took up the space. Johnny and I sat next to each other across from him. The benches were dirty, and there wasn't much light coming through the boarded up windows.

"Well he isn't bleeding, so we are going to have to wait for him to wake up." Johnny said quietly. I snorted. This world was a cruel place.

"Get some sleep Johnny," I said, and curled up where I was sitting. The seat was disgusting, cobwebs and dust all over, but I managed to close my eyes and fall asleep.

My dream went something like this:

_I was back in the woods where we had all stopped. In fact, I saw us there, but I couldn't hear anything. I saw Leo turn around and tell Johnny and me to run, and we did. Leo turned back and faced the woods. He brought a hammer out of… where? Then lit it on fire…with what? It looked like he touched the hammer and it burst into flames, but that's not possible. The trees shook again and a monstrous beast stuck its head into the clearing. I could see that it had five heads, and was as tall and wide as a house. Leo's mouth moved like he was shouting something, probably an insult. The monster shook it's awfully large head and dove towards him. I cried out, and tried to run to him, but my legs felt like they were stuck in a foot of mud. Leo jumped out of the way and struck downwards with his flaming weapon. The freak's head flew off and exploded into yellow dust. It looked like the dust that had been covering Leo when he passed out. The neck that had held up this head was on fire and quickly shriveling up. Leo muttered something under his breath, and then repeated the process. When he was on the third head, it was like the thing suddenly realized it had fire powers. It reared its mighty head back and threw a white hot column of flame at Leo. Leo didn't even flinch, in fact, he let it hit him. I yelled again, and tried to move forward, but to no avail. When the flame died down, Leo was standing in the exact same spot, his clothes singed, but his body not burned at all. The only thing that was wrong was that he looked angry. Really, really, totally enraged. He attacked the monster, and in no time it was just a memory… and some yellow dust. Leo looked drained, as if the adrenaline had rushed out of him too fast. But he managed to stumble out of the clearing in the general direction of the church. _

I was shaken out of my dream by Leo.

"Good morning sleepy head," he said, sounding like yesterday hadn't happened at all. "Where's Johnny?"

"Leo! You're awake! Can I get you anything? We have a well out back, you could have some water." I rushed, spitting out all the things that came to my mind first. He laughed.

"Naw, I'm good. Where'd Johnny go?" He repeated.

"Johnny went to get food; he told me last night. But dude, you're _good_? You were just, like, dead to the world!" I exclaimed. He laughed again.

"Geez, thanks for the attention, mom, but I'm fine." He joked. Just then Johnny walked in with an armful of boxes and grocery bags. He set them down on a dusty table and we began to take things out. Leo sat nearby, tinkering with some metal scraps. I decided not to ask. I pulled baloney, bread, paper, a Gone with the Wind book I had always wanted, and peroxide. I looked slowly at Johnny.

"Oh no," I said.

"Pony, we have to disguise ourselves, they're gonna know we did it if we fit the description." Johnny explained.

"No, no, no, you're not dying my hair." I told him. Leo was still looking down at his metal pieces, (which were beginning to form a wrist-watch) but I could tell he was laughing because of the way his shoulders were shaking.

"Pony, listen to me. We are going to cut our hair, and you're gonna dye yours."

"Leo," I groaned, "Help me."

"I dunno man, you've gotta disguise yourselves." He said, falling off the bench and silently laughing himself silly.

"You should too." I whined, despising my poor hair getting cut. But, I let Johnny lead me over to a chair, so I could sit down while he cut it.

"Yeah, b-but he doesn't control me!" Leo pointed a shaky finger at Johnny and howled with laughter, pounding the filthy ground with his fist. Johnny rolled his eyes and began to cut my Greaser hair with his shiny knife.

A few hours later, we were all sitting in the grass near the back of the church, munching on several pieces of baloney. I was looking at my awful reflection in the mirror Leo had brought me. Who, by the way, cracked up every time he saw me.

Every once in a while, Leo would look over at Johnny and I and fall over with a silent laughter racking his whole body. Johnny would roll his eyes, and we would go back to reading Gone with the Wind. This went on for days, until Dally came.


	8. Leo!

**Yeah so some nice person pointed out to me that I posted Pony's chapter twice. Sorry about that :/ Soooo anyways here's the next one.**

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**_Leo_**

After my fight with the hydra, the guys were treating my weird. It was almost like they had seen it, but they couldn't have, I saw them run. Johnny seemed especially awkward around me. He didn't laugh at my jokes, (even if they were kind of lame), and he didn't talk as much; only when necessary. I didn't know what their problem was. And then Dallas got to the church. Dally, that was his nickname, right? I've never seen anyone be so cautious and wary around me.

I woke up, earlier than Pony and Johnny, like usual, and got some breakfast. Or, tried to; I was sick of baloney, but I managed to choke down a piece. As I was gagging on the last bite, I heard a noise around the back of the church. I pulled out my hammer and went to investigate. As I weaved through the dusty wooden benches, I wondered if I should wake Pony and Johnny up.

"_Naw,_" I thought, "_They'll be fine."_ I whipped the door open and raised the hammer.

"Whoa!" Dally said, putting his hands above his head in a defensive gesture.

"Oh, sorry, didn't know it was you. You should try calling our names next time." I told him. He glared at me, and I gave him one of my famous crooked smiles.

"Where are Ponyboy and Johnny?" He growled.

"They're out. Probably catching up from last night." I said, jerking my thumb towards the benches where they were sleeping. Dally pushed past me.

"Hey!" I exclaimed. Dally reached Pony, with me trailing behind him. I stuffed the hammer back into my tool-belt when he wasn't glaring at me. Dallas leaned over Pony and ruffled his hair.

"Hey blondie," He said.

"Hey Dally." Pony said, waking up and rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. Dally walked over to Johnny and kicked the bench he was laying on.

"C'mon John, time to get up." He said, sauntering over to the crooked window, then back to Pony.

"Hey Dally, what's going on?" Johnny asked, sitting up.

"I got a letter for a…uh, Ponyboy Curtis." He said handing Pony a folded piece of paper. I walked over to the box with the baloney in it and took a piece out.

"Hey Dally, are you hungry?" I held the slice out to him.

"Yeah, but let's go somewhere else. How 'bout the Dairy Queen?" He said.

"Yeah, let's go I'm starved." Johnny said. He and Pony walked out the front door. I was about to follow when Dally stopped me.

"Listen to me. I've got a bad feelin' 'bout you, kid. Pony and Johnny Cake have had too much hurt in their lives, and I don't want you messin' it up anymore." I stared at him, shocked. I was about to protest but my father's voice spoke again in my messed up mind.

"_Let it go, Leo. Just wait for them to get back, wait for the fire, but do not put it out. Then, you will save Johnny." _I listened to him, didn't protest, but continued to stare at Dallas. I will never get over the nerve of that guy. He glared at me one more time before leaving. I heard him tell Pony and Johnny that I was 'sick' or something. Then, a car started, and the noise died down as it left the church. I stood rooted to the spot, my mouth hanging open. Composing myself, I gave a little huff and marched out the back door.

Banging down the back steps of the porch, I stomped around by the tiny lake until I heard a bus pull up. My head snapped up and I ran towards the tree line. Heart pounding, I crept towards the sound, and found a bunch of six-year-olds with a couple adults. Basically, people who would not appreciate my presence there. I saw them go into the church, wondering when the fire was going to start, and when Dallas would get back with Pony and Johnny. Sitting down against the trunk of an old tree and pulled the forgotten wristwatch out of my tool-belt to work on it again. I was going to give it to Percy, since his birthday was coming up. I glanced up from time to time, to see if the people had come out, or if the fire had started.

Almost finished with my watch, I happened to glance up and see smoke coming out of the ancient building. Stuffing the watch into the belt, I shot to my feet, watching the kids and adults flood out of the building. It did look like some were missing. Searching desperately for the Chevrolet El Camino that Dally drove, I ran for the burning church. I reached the church just as I saw the car pull up and two boys dive out. I tried to kick open the door, but it was held shut. Pony and Johnny gotten to me and we found a way in through one of the boarded up windows. I scrambled in first, yelling out to the kids. They screamed back, and I lead Johnny and Ponyboy towards them.

"Stay low," I yelled to them, "the less smoke you inhale, the better." I crouched down too, even though I had no need to. We reached the kids, who were screaming their tiny little heads off. Johnny kicked open another window and smoke poured out of it like a tidal wave. I grabbed a kid, and slid him through the opening, hoping it wasn't a long fall to the ground.

"Ow!" Pony yelled; he had gotten bit by a little girl. I couldn't understand why she did; we were trying to help them. He grabbed her and put her through the window too. Once all the kids were out, I grabbed Pony and Johnny by their shirts and threw them through the open window, Johnny first. Then, a lot of things happened at once. One, Dally threw Pony to the ground, trying to put the fire out from his shirt. Two, Pony passed out as Dallas padded his shirt roughly, and Johnny screamed at me to get out of the church. Three, the church collapsed, sending me tumbling through a wreckage of burning wood and metal. That was the last thing I remembered before waking up in the hospital.


	9. Johnny POV

**_Johnny_**

He saved us. Leo saved us, and now we can't save him. Pony and I were suffering from minor burns, and Leo's life was in danger. After the church collapsed, everything was a blur. I remember Dally cursing because he accidently knocked Pony unconscious. I remember the sirens of ambulances and fire trucks coming to 'rescue' us. (Just a wee bit late if you ask me.) And, I remember the awful sight of the firefighters coming out of the wreckage, with Leo's limp body draped over his shoulder. They loaded us into two ambulances. They forced us to squeeze in the ambulance with Pony, because Leo's condition was critical. Pony woke up about halfway through the ride and looked around.

"Where's Leo?" He asked, sounding fine, but his voice was dangerously calm.

"In the ambulance behind us." I said, "How do you feel?"

"I'm fine. Is everyone else okay?"

"No. Leo is in critical condition, apparently." Dally answered. I stared at him; he can be so oblivious to other people's feelings. Pony gasped, and I shivered, recalling the limp body they had found in the burnt church.

"What?! You're kidding, Dal." He managed a nervous laugh and looked at me for the truth.

"I'm sorry, Pony. It's the truth." I said quietly, and then quickly added, "But we know Leo, he'll be fine."

"Do you know Leo? I'm not sure he's telling you the entire truth. Did you see his body? Not one single burn on it." Dally stated, hatred in his eyes.

"What is wrong with you? Why do you hate him so much? He's done nothing to you! Plus, not to mention, he just saved our lives!" Pony exclaimed, tearing up and trembling.

"That's for me to know and you to never find out." Dally stated coldly. The ambulance suddenly slowed to a stop, and the back doors flew open. We were all herded into the lobby, after the doctor checked us out, gave us all burn cream, and left. Dally stormed out quickly afterwards. We waited there for about an hour or two, watching many people come and go out of the emergency room. Then the doctor emerged from a room down the hallway. We ran to him.

"Is Leo gonna be okay?" Pony asked worriedly. I nodded, to emphasize the question.

"He'll be fine in a couple of days" He said, sounding exasperated. We ducked under his arm, into the doorway. The doctor muttered something under his breath and walked away with his clipboard. Leo's eyes were closed, but he was breathing. He was only wearing his singed jeans, and his chest. I'll never forget it. Although quite scrawny, it was marred by scars and cuts, and his whole body was covered in ash. His left arm was out, and an IV pumped clear liquid into his body.

"Leo?" I asked cautiously as we stepped into the room. Leo's brown eyes flew open, and he gave a little cough.

"Hey guys, didn't think I'd see you again." He said weakly.

"Leo!" We shouted and ran to him. He laughed, but it quickly turned into a coughing fit.

"Hey guys." He repeated.

"Are you okay?" I asked, worried.

"Yeah, man, you saved our lives back there." Pony put in.

"I have a couple broken bones, but since the doctors have, like, no flippin' technology here, they can't fix it." He answered, rolling his big eyes.

"Thanks so much Leo, you dig okay." I said. Leo started to give me a confused look, but his eyes focused on something or, someone behind me. A soft knock came on the old wooden door.

"Pony?" A voice asked. Ponyboy and I whipped around, and he tackled his brothers in a huge hug. I smiled to myself, then looked away as Darry started to inspect Pony for bruises. Looking back at Leo, I saw his eyes were closed, and a silent tear was tracking a path down his ash-covered face.

"Leo, you okay buddy?" I asked, worried for him. He took a deep breath before responding.

"Yeah, I just miss somebody back at home." He said with a couple coughs at the end. I nodded, trying to relate to what he said. The Curtis brothers turned to the kid in the bed.

"Are you the boy that saved these two?" Darry asked professionally. Leo coughed.

"Y-yeah," He said, before closing his eyes, as if to ignore the pain. Soda walked over to his bedside and whispered something into his ear. Leo smiled and nodded his head weakly, his eyes still closed.

"Leo, are you burned at all?" I asked him.

"Fire…. didn't touch me." He replied, just as the nurse came in to shoo us out.

"He needs rest, boys." She said, closing the door before we could say good-bye. As we walked down the bustling hallway, Soda broke our silence.

"I like him." He said, causing Pony and I to roll our eyes.

"Of course you like him, he saved our lives." Pony said, and he gave me one of his infamous '_duh_' looks.

I laughed in spite of myself, looking over at them.

"Boys!" a voice yelled. We all glanced toward to sound, and I was surprised to find the doctor heading towards us. We stopped our course in the direction of the front door of the emergency room, and let him lead us into his office.

"Did we do something wrong, sir?" Pony asked as politely as he could.

"No, I just wanted to ask you about your friend." He said, looking suspicious.

"Who, Leo? What d'you want to know about him. We haven't been friends very long; we don't know much." I told him. He studied me.

"I think you can figure it out," he said motioning to me and Pony, "Did he seem a little odd to you?"

We thought about that, but didn't have an answer. Soda and Darry were looking at us, listening to the conversation intently.

"I am just thinking of this, because, as you might have seen, he did not have any burns. Not a single one. Yet he was in a burning building for a longer amount of time than you two, and you have some minor burns." He explained. I was too tired to think about it much, but that struck me as peculiar.

"No sir, there was nothing off about him. He even told us, the fire didn't touch him." Pony told him. The doctor studied us for a while longer before Darry broke the awkward silence.

"Sir, we really must be going, the boys are tired; they need some sleep."

"Fine, you may go." The doctor said. We opened the door and left quickly before he decided to tell us how messed up our other friends were.


	10. Pony

**Oh my gosh I haven't posted in a couple of days, I'm so sorry, but I do have the next chapter here. I don't think I'll be able to post tomorrow, but I will definitely work on it! Enjoy! :)**

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**_Ponyboy_**

As soon as we all packed into Darry's beat up old truck, I fell asleep. In my dream, it was pitch black and I couldn't see anything, but I heard two boys talking. This is how the conversation between them went.

_"Leo! Can you hear me? It's Jason." _ Said a boy's voice.

_"Jason? What are you doing in my dream?" _ Leo's voice answered.

_"That doesn't matter man. Boy, you had us scared to death! Are you okay?"_

_"Yeah, I'm fine, but I think they are onto me. I was on a quest to save this Johnny kid from a fire, which I did, so I think I'll be coming home soon. But the building collapsed and now I'm stuck in a low-tech hospital and I have a bunch of broken bones. It sucks."_

_"Where's your ambrosia?"_

_"It's in my backpack, but they won't let me have it." _

_"Bro. Wow, just wow. You gotta tell somebody dude."_

_"Yeah, I think I'll tell my friends when they get back."_

_"Cool, oi, somebody's waking me u-"_

The room suddenly grew from a dark black, to a blinding light, and I opened my eyes. Someone was shaking me.

"Pony, Pony, get up! C'mon it's time for breakfast."

"Alright, alright, I'm up Soda." I said, sitting up on the bed where I was placed last night and rubbing my dry eyes.

"The chocolate cake is gonna be gone by the time you get out of bed." He told me, skipping happily out of the room. I looked around, smiling. It was good to be home.

After I took a shower and put my clothes on, I walked down the stairs slowly. The whole gang was there, mobbing Johnny. Well, not Dally, he was moping on the couch. I didn't care though. He had been mean to us, especially Leo.

"Heyyyyy, there's ma man!" Two-Bit yelled and ran over to me, cake covering his mouth. Soon, they were all begging me to tell them about how Leo had saved us. I rolled my eyes.

"Didn't Johnny already tell you?"

"No, no, he didn't tell us anything." Steve said with wide eyes, but I could tell he was being sarcastic.

"Guys, calm down, give him some space." Soda said, handing me a plate of cake.

"Can we visit Leo?" I asked him, shoveling forkfuls of the delicious cake into my mouth. But before Soda could reply, Dally broke in.

"No, we are not going to visit him. I'm telling you right now; that kid's no good." I wheeled around to face him, seething and almost choking on my cake. But I managed to swallow it in order to yell at him.

"What is your _problem_ with him?" I yelled. Dally stood up and got in my face, with Two-Bit trying to pull him away. I stood my ground, knowing he couldn't hurt me.

"You'd never understand, Ponyboy." He said coldly, than stalked out the door, probably going to commit a crime.

"Well, now that that horrible incident of terror is over, let's go see Leo." Darry said in an overly cheery voice.

Johnny and I sat up front with Darry driving. Two-Bit, Steve, and Soda sat in the pickup part of the old truck, and held on tight. Darry drove slowly and it was killing me.

"Darry can you _please_ drive faster?" I asked, putting emphasis on the 'p'.

"No, Pony, I don't want to throw the guys out of the back." He told me, exasperated. Johnny and I groaned, and Darry rolled his eyes.

Finally, _finally_, we reached the emergency room. Darry pulled up in an empty parking space and we all piled out of the truck.

"I can't wait to meet this kid." Two-Bit said, slurring his words a little. I don't think he was actually drunk, though; sometimes he just acts like it. Steve nodded. We strolled through the grimy front doors and Johnny and I lead them through the bustling hallways to Leo's hospital room. I recalled the conversation in my dream.

_"He said he is gonna tell us what is going on." _ I thought as we reached the door. Through it, I heard arguing, but it sounded like older people, not Leo. Johnny knocked loudly on the wooden door.

"Um… hello? We're here to see Leo." He said and the talking stopped. The door flew open, and I recognized the doctor we had talked to last night. He looked irritated and so did the nurse behind him.

"Yes?" he asked.

"We are here to see Leo, sir." I repeated what Johnny had said, trying to look past them into the room.

"Hmph. Yes, well I guess you can, but he's still sleeping." The doctor said, and he left us alone with the nurse and Leo.

"You boys shouldn't wake him. Call someone if something goes wrong." The nurse told us, than she left too, closing the door behind her. Leo looked even worse than the night before. He had gotten paler, and many of his limbs were in casts, with the IV still in his arm. His hair was messier than before; it looked like he hadn't combed it in days, which I guessed was kind of true. Leo's scrawny chest was still bare, but at least he wasn't covered in ash anymore. Unfortunately, this revealed his scars even more, causing Two-Bit and Steve to gasp.

"Leo? Can you hear me? It's me, Pony. Johnny and the rest of the gang are here too." I said, not sure if he was awake or not. Leo's big, chocolate brown eyes fluttered open.

"Hey buddy, you okay?" Johnny asked.

"Y-yeah I'm fine. Could someone get me my backpack?" He said, with coughs in almost every word.

"I'll get it!" Two-Bit yelled. He flung open the door, dashed out, and slammed in behind him. I rolled my eyes, looking at the door. When I looked back at Leo, his eyes were closed and he was snoring.

"Did he just fall asleep?" Soda asked, confused.

"Yeah. He doesn't look too good, does he Soda." I said sullenly.

"Well… he'll be fine I'm sure." Soda told me uncertainly. Johnny sighed, looking at our new friend. It was quiet for a moment before the door flew open and Two-Bit rushed in. We all turned quickly.

"I got it." He said, holding up a camo backpack and grinning like a madman.


	11. Leo (again!)

**Alright, so I was REALLY busy today, but I wanted to try and get something uploaded... so here it is! The only thing is the ending is a bit cut off, like it really shouldn't be like that, but like I said, I just want to give you something to read. Anyways, please review! **

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**_Leo_**

I felt like crap. I needed my ambrosia, and the stupid 'doctor' wouldn't give it to me. But the cool thing was, Jason managed to contact me, and I hadn't had another nightmare since. I hadn't even realized I had fallen asleep, when I felt myself being gently shaken awake. I opened my eyes slowly, and saw Ponyboy standing over me with my backpack in his hand.

"Hey, Leo, you fell asleep. Do you want something out of here?" he asked me, as the others looked on with concern. I looked around, recognizing four boys out of six.

"Y-yeah, can y-you get the ambrosia s-squares out of t-the front p-pocket." I said shakily. I looked weak, but it hurt. I closed my eyes again, letting the blackness engulf me. I was shaken awake again by Pony.

"Leo you fell asleep again. Here's your stuff." He said, handing me the bag of ambrosia squares. I lifted my good arm carefully and took it from him. I saw that he had opened it for me. I looked at him in shock.

"You d-didn't eat any, r-right?" I said, worried. If he did, he was definitely screwed. But to my great relief, he shook his head. I set the bag on my lap, not sure how to eat it, since I couldn't bring my arm to my mouth.

"Here," said Pony's brother, Darry. He walked over to me and took a square out of the bag, and I opened my sore mouth to tell him not to eat it. Before I could react, he popped it into my mouth, which I closed.

"Mmmm…" I said, closing my eyes again and letting the taste of it wash over my dry mouth. I could feel my broken bones, mending themselves and throat felt much better. The ambrosia tasted like my mom's chocolate chip cookies and it made me kind of sad. I opened my eyes and pulled the IV out of my right arm. I then used this arm to put the ambrosia back in the pack so no one got a hold of it.

"Um, dude I really don't think you should-" one guy started, but I held up my hand up my hand for him to stop. I sat cross-legged in the bed, and dug around in my backpack for a Camp Half-Blood shirt, or any shirt, really. I found one and pulled it on over my so called 'scrawny' chest. Setting the backpack on the floor, I looked at the guys, who were staring at me.

"You're crazy." The other guy I didn't know said. That was when my spring-loaded ADHD got the better of me. I got out of the bed and started pacing. They watched every step.

"Okay, I've got something to tell you." I started, but right then the door flew open, and Dallas stepped in.

"Oh I'm _sure _you do, Mr. Fire Boy. Go on, tell them how you destroyed your precious ship, your dragon, your friend's lives, you even took your own mother's life!" He yelled. I was shocked for a second, but it quickly turned into fury. These thoughts overruled the confused thoughts; I didn't know him before, how does he know about all that?

"YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO TALK ABOUT HER!" I screamed at the top of my lungs. That was sure to bring people running, so I ran over to the hospital window, and smashed through it with my balled fist. I turned around and shook my bloody hand at Dallas, who was smirking.

"I HATE YOU! I JUST SAVED YOUR LIFE AND YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW IT! GO DIE IN A FREAKING HOLE FOR ALL I CARE! I JUST WANT TO BE NORMAL! I WANNA GO HOME!" I screamed, and just as the door flew open, I climbed through the cracked window and ran as fast as I could. I heard a couple people yell for me to wait, but I didn't stop. I heard a truck start up from behind me, and I looked back, but I couldn't see who it was through my tears. I'm sure I looked like a big baby, wailing with tears streaming down my face, but no one, _no one_, insults my mother. Looking back on it, I should have decked Dallas right there. I sprinted across an intersection and into an alleyway. Plopping down on the filthy ground, I rocked back and forth, with my head touching my knees and my arms wrapped around my curled up legs, bawling my eyes out. It wasn't just for my mom though, it was for all the pain, all the suffering my friends and I had gone through in the recent war. So many demigods died for a good cause. So many. On top of that, my beautiful ship had gone down, destroying everything on it (no people though, for that, I was grateful). Festus, gone. My Archimedes sphere, gone. All the weapons, Wii controllers, gone. Everyone's clothing, all the perfectly good mechanical parts that it was built with. My poor, poor ship. After a good five minutes of sobbing, someone sat down next to me and patted my shoulder.

"Hey, man, it's okay. You're okay, right?" he said. I looked up and sniffled, tears still tracking down my face. It was that kid, Soda. I placed my head back on my knees and sighed.

"I must look like a huge baby." I told him.

"No, no, you don't. Everybody cries sometimes, my mom is dead too. Dally…he's good, he's had a hard life, you just gotta get to know him." Soda said. My breathing grew more labored with each word. I finally jumped to my feet in another rage. I could feel the blood rushing to my face, and my fists were balled at my side, though one was still bloody. I ignored it.

"Oh, and you think I _haven't_ had a hard life?" I said, my voice dangerously calm. It scared me a little, I didn't know I could be creepy.

"Bro, we all have." He said, standing up and trying to calm me down.

"Yes, okay, let's review. My mother died when I was eight. My aunt hates me and I she put me in several foster homes. I ran away from each one. I was put in a 'Wilderness School' for bad kids and had fake memories of my best friend. Then I got pushed down the Grand Canyon, went on a quest to fight some giants, and almost died multiple times. Next I end up destroying half the Roman camp because I was possessed and they all hate me, my dad's weird and I met him for the first time when I was 15. I fought in a huge save-the-world war that ended last week, I get my girlfriend back from her island, and then I'm sent on this stupid quest to save your stupid friend Dallas and that Johnny kid. I don't belong here; I wanna go home and have a normal life, with normal people." I ranted, my voice growing louder with each word. By the end I was out of breath and screaming, but no one had stopped to look. He stared at me, and started backing away. I saw he wasn't looking at my red face, it was more my hair.

"Dude, your hair is on FIRE! I gotta go get some water!" He said, running off. I stood there, seething. Closing my eyes, I calmed down and managed to put out the wildfire on my head. Soda came running into the alley with Darry who was lugging a bucket. I put my hands out to stop him.

"No, no wait!" I managed to get out before he poured the whole bucket over my head, not paying attention.


	12. Darry

**Hi guys, I'm still alive, soooo... yeah. I got some really nice reviews in the past few days, so thanks for that! :) Alright, I'm sorry this took so long, but here's your next chapter... Darry's POV! **

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**_Darry_**

Leo stood there, soaking, and spitting water out of his mouth.

"Dude!" he shouted. "What was that for?"

"Soda told me your hair was on fire!" I yelled back at him. Soda looked back and forth between us.

"It _was_," Sodapop mumbled, looking at his feet.

"Haven't you figured it out by now?" Leo asked quietly, staring at me with his red face. I bet that was from all the anger and emotion he had been going through. His hair was matted down and stuck to his face, and the way he looked at me, with those big brown eyes made him look like a lost puppy stuck in the rain. I shook my head as the others ran into the alleyway, shouting.

"Whoa! Dude, Pony heard Soda tell Darry that your hair was on FIRE!" Two-Bit screamed, probably attracting a lot of attention, though none of us focused on that.

"Um…yeah, what I was gonna tell you is that, err, well, I'm kinda sort of, um, well I'mimmunetofire!" he finally spat it out, then blushed furiously and stared at his feet. I heard what he said, but at the time I thought he was delirious, or maybe even a little bit traumatized from the whole experience. Johnny stepped forward and put an arm around his back.

"C'mon, man, you've had a long day. Let's go to Pony's house and then you can tell us what happened." Johnny said, leading Leo to my truck.

I drove home in silence, but I heard the guys in the back of the truck yapping away. (With the exception of Dally, of course. He sat there with his arms crossed, staring at the side of the road.) In the cab, Pony was staring out the window, obviously deep in thought. Leo sat slumped over between us, he had fallen asleep again, and his head would occasionally loll onto my shoulder.

"Jason, where is she?" I heard Leo mutter in his sleep as his head flopped forward. Pony's head snapped around to look at him.

"Darry, can I tell you something?" He asked me. I rolled my eyes and looked at my kid brother for a second before returning my gaze to the endless road ahead of us.

"You can tell me anything, Ponyboy." I told him, trying to sound trustworthy. He wrung his hands together, just as the guys in the back burst into laughter.

"Well, that night you brought Johnny and I home from the hospital, I had a weird dream." He said. I nodded, not knowing where he was going with this.

"I heard Leo talking, to another boy, his name is Jason." Pony said, and I almost slammed on the brakes out of shock. Leo slumped forward rather fast, and his head hit the dashboard before Pony or I could stop it.

"Whoa!" Pony shouted, and Leo shot upright so fast, it was almost inhuman.

"STOP THE CAR!" he screamed, and I instinctively swerved to the side of the dirty road and slammed on the brakes. Soda, Two-Bit and Steve fell out of the back. I put the truck in park and pushed the door open. Running out to check on the guys, I saw Leo dash out of the driver's side door into the tall grass on the side of the road.

The guys stood up, and brushed themselves off.

"Never again." Soda muttered.

"What'd you do a thing like that for?!" Steve yelled, while Two-Bit grinned like a mad-man.

"Well, Leo told me to stop the truck, very loudly, I might add, so I freaked out! Is everyone okay?" I asked them.

"Yeah, yeah." They grumbled together. I glared at Dally.

"What'd that kid ever do to you?" I asked him, approaching him slowly. I knew Dally ignited quickly. In the background, I saw the other guys fidgeting nervously, and I heard Pony calling Leo. Dally jumped off the bed of the truck, landing gently on the ground.

"He is a child of Hephaestus, he burns things, destroys them. I hate him because he could destroy everything we have, and you are all oblivious to it. As for all the things I know about him, well, let's just say he talks in his sleep too much. 'My poor, poor ship'. Heard him talking about it when I went to get these two," He told us, jabbing a finger at Johnny and Pony, who was inching closer to the brush on the side of the road. "I realized it when he got stuck in that burning church; no one could survive that."

I was shocked; it was like Dally had gone to a library and looked stuff up. I was also confused with the name he had used. Hephaestus, was that Greek mythology? Turning to the guys, I put on a confused face. They shrugged their shoulders, almost in union. I sighed, and looked back at Dally, who had hopped back up on the bed of the truck, and was picking at a scab on his hand.

"Darry, where's Pony?" Soda asked from behind me. I whipped around, a new problem at hand.

"Oh, that kid will be the death of me!" I groaned, running with the gang towards the field of grass. Plunging into it, the grass barely reached over my head, but Pony and Leo would not have trouble hiding in here. We ran, calling out Pony and Leo's names. Suddenly, I heard shouting from my left. Not waiting for the rest of the gang, Soda and I sprinted ahead, yelling for our brother and Leo. Soon, we located the point of the shouting, it was Pony. They were in the middle of a fairly large clearing and most of it was of fire, which was odd because there was no smoke coming off it. Pony was yelling our names and clinging to Leo, whose hair was also on fire. (That proved Dally's theory, for me at least.) Pony ran to us, his arms outstretched for a hug. I embraced him quickly, and then jogged through the middle of the clearing to Leo, who was standing there with his eyes closed and arms raised above his head.

"Um, Leo, your hair is definitely on fire this time." I said cautiously. One of his eyes popped open.

"Shush, I'm trying to concentrate." He said, and I noted that he had a little sense of humor. I raised my hands in surrender and backed away from him and the burning grass. Little by little, Leo brought his hands down, and by the time he was done, the wildfire was completely extinguished. He gave me a goofy, drunken grin that Two-Bit sometimes has.

"Didn't think I could do that." He said, staggering towards me. I ran forward and caught him, just as he collapsed.


	13. Leo Valdez

**Okay guys (and girls), I'm really sorry for that last chapter and this one. Last one was really lame, I know, and this one is really short. I hope you guys like it anyways! I also have reallllyyyyy bad writer's block, so if you guys want to help me with that... *hint, hint, wink, wink***

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**_Leo_**

After I put out the fire, which was totally awesome, I stumbled towards Darry; my energy was entirely drained.

"Didn't know I could do that." I said, just before he ran forward and caught me.

"Oh geez…" I heard Soda say, and then I blacked out.

The next thing I remember is waking up in a king size bed, the sun beaming through the curtains and momentarily blinding me. I blinked, then sat up and shook my head as if to get all the dirt out of my shaggy hair. Smoothing my spazzy curls down, I carefully slid off the edge of the bed. Leaning on the wall because of my unfocused vision, I attempted to find my way downstairs. I followed the delicious smell of eggs cooking, and I could hear people talking and laughing. I walked down the short hallway, leaning on anything I could. Stumbling down the stairs, I was greeted by an eerie silence. I stopped at the second to last step to let my disoriented vision focus. Once I could make out the individual people there, I stepped off the last step and smacked my lips.

"What's for breakfast?" I asked. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Pony approaching me slowly. I turned to face him as I heard the screen door slam behind me. That was probably Dallas.

"Hey, you okay?" he asked, worried. I sneezed, doubling over so as not to get my germs all over him. Recovering, I straightened up and wiped my nose on my sleeve. Yeah, yeah, it was gross, but what else was I supposed to use?

"Bless me," I said, cracking my lopsided grin that got all the ladies. I heard a snort from behind me. "Anyways, I'm okay, it's just that, you smell like-" I was cut off by another sneeze. After repeating the process on my other sleeve, I continued my sentence.

"Chocolate." I told Pony. He backed away from me, and Darry grabbed my arm.

"Sorry, Leo," he said, "We always have chocolate cake on Sunday's. Let me get you some breakfast." Darry said, dragging me into the kitchen. No one followed us in, but I could hear whispers in the living room before the laughter started up again. Darry made me eggs and bacon, and it was delicious. As soon as he set it down in front of me at the table, I started eating ravenously. As it turns out, I was starving. Darry sat down next to me just as I took a big swig of the orange juice.

"Leo, you've been out for a week." He said flatly. I felt my eye widen, but I managed not to spew my orange juice everywhere. Unfortunately, this resulting in choking. Darry whacked me on the back a couple of times before I was finally able to breathe again. I gulped and jumped out of my chair, knocking it backwards.

"A WHOLE WEEK! Oh, gods, my friends are gonna _kill_ me!" I moaned, dragging my hands through my knotted hair. Darry held a finger up, looking sheepish.

"And since they caught you, you have to go to a trial for arson."

I froze, then plopped down back into my seat and started to hit my head on the wooden table, speaking between blows.

"I *bang* just *bang* want *bang* to *bang* go *bang* home *bang*." I said, and Darry put a hand on my back, patting it awkwardly a couple of times.

"Alright, how about you take a walk with Pony and Johnny to the shop and pick up some groceries before your trial." He said, obviously wanting me out of the house. I picked myself up off the table, forehead hurting.

"Whatever." I told him, dragging myself out of the kitchen. I pushed the door open shuffled through the living room, keeping my head down. The guys were laughing at something on television, Mickey Mouse? Grabbing Pony's hand, I pulled him behind me out the door.

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**REMEMBER TO REVIEW!**


	14. Author's Note

**Me: Hi peeps... *nervous smile* ok so I know you were expecting another chapter, and this is a waste of your precious time. I cannot express how sorry I am because I haven't updated... I just lost inspiration I guess. **

**Leo: Bad author! *Pulls out flaming hammer***

**Me: Leo put that away... I will be continuing the story, so you don't have to worry about that!**

**Pony: You'd better...**

**Leo: Say it**

**Me: I'd rather not.**

**Leo: Say it**

**Me: *groans* ok... soooo I swear on the River Styx that I will update by Thursday of next week.**

**Pony: make it Wednesday**

**Me: fine**

**Leo and Pony: *evil laugh***

**Me: Also, thanks so much to morethanarepairboy! You helped soooo much :)**

**All: Byeeeee**


	15. Pony POV

**Alright so first I got thrown into Tartarus for not updating, and when I finally got out I had to go on "vacation"... long story short : I have failed you! I'm going to update whenever I can, now, because I'm really busy.. :( Anyways here's the next chapter, I hope you like it! (even though its pretty short and lame...)**

* * *

**_Ponyboy_**

I was really nervous for my trial. Like, REALLY nervous. If the gang and Cherry couldn't pull off a convincing argument, I could lose my brothers forever. I was also stressed out about Leo. He had been unconscious for about a week, and I was scared out of my mind for him. After what happened last time though, nobody wanted to go back to the emergency room. I didn't know what was up with Dally. He was acting weird, and I knew he wasn't telling us the truth.

I could tell Leo was anxious about something too. His trial, maybe? When he came down that Sunday, he seemed like his normal self, really chilled out. But after my brother talked to him in the kitchen, he came out with his ears on fire. Leo grabbed my hand, pulling me away from a new episode of Mickey Mouse, and he yanked me out the door. Leo stormed down the steps and I stumbled behind him.

"Whoa!" I yelled.

"Sorry, Pony, I just a bit stressed… Where's the grocery store?"

"I'll show you. And I can tell, because your ears are on fire." I told him, raising my eyebrows. He flushed red, and brought his hands up to his flaming ears. When he took them away, the fire was gone.

"Oops." Leo said, giving a half-hearted grin. We crossed the street leading into the store.

I looked at Leo. "Who _are_ you?"

He gave a nervous laugh and we stopped outside the front doors of the store. "Leo Valdez, son of Hephaestus, bane of giants, slayer of whatever the heck that thing was, Supreme Commander of the Argo II, one of the seven, and the boy on fire!"

I stood stunned, with my mind reeling. Hephaestus, wasn't that from Greek mythology?

"Er…. Sooo you're the half-god?" I asked hesitantly and we walked in the store.

"Shush, not so loud! But yes, and we prefer the term demigod thank you very much!"

"But how-"

"Listen, I'll explain when we get back to your house… oh SWEET! Look at those cookies! Man they look good!" Leo exclaimed, rushing over to the bakery. I sighed.

"Leo, those are chocolate chips, not… oh god." I told him, as he took a big whiff of the scent coming off the cookies.

"Ohhh…. I guess you're… AH-CHOOOO! …Right" He said, purposely making his sneeze loud. People were staring at us now. Leo gave them his lopsided grin.

I took his arm and led him out of the store, forgetting about the reason Darry had sent us there in the first place.


End file.
